Kyoto useless for Australia: Howard

Page Tools

The Kyoto Protocol would jeopardise Australian jobs and it was
useless for Australia to join, Prime Minister John Howard said
yesterday.

As the 141-nation agreement became international law - and in
the face of intense pressure from environmentalists and the
Opposition - Mr Howard told Parliament that it was not in
Australia's interests to sign the treaty.

Until major emitters such as the US and China joined Kyoto -
which aims to get the industrial world to cut its greenhouse gas
emissions by 5.2 per cent by 2012 - it would be harmful for
Australia to do so, he said.

"We would create a situation where countries such as China,
India and Indonesia would not be subject to the same penalties and
restrictions as would Australia," Mr Howard said. "And as a result
we would run the risk of losing both industry and jobs to countries
in that situation."

Labor interrupted Parliament yesterdayseeking to suspend
standing orders and urgently debate the issue but the Government
used its numbers to defeat the motion.

The issue dominated question time, with Opposition Leader Kim
Beazley directing a question to his environment spokesman, Anthony
Albanese.

Asked why Australia should ratify, Mr Albanese said climate
change was the No. 1 environmental challenge facing the world. "We
should prioritise it for the sake not just of ourselves but of our
children and grandchildren."

Senior Government ministers including Environment Minister Ian
Campbell and Treasurer Peter Costello backed the continual refusal
to ratify. Senator Campbell said Australia was one of five
countries likely to achieve its Kyoto targets - 8 per cent above
1990 levels by 2012. He said Australia was on track to reduce
greenhouse emissions by 30 per cent by 2050.

Mr Costello said: "We will play our part, but we will not be
part of a one-sided agreement which would handicap the Australian
economy."

Green groups protested on the steps of Victorian Parliament
yesterday, waving flags of the 141 countries that have signed.

Australian Conservation Foundation vice-president Peter
Christoff said Australian businesses would miss out on clean energy
investment markets established under the treaty. "We are also
locked out of the international carbon trading market now coming
into being," he said. "This will cost Australian industry over $1
billion per annum."

Australian Medical Association president Bill Glasson called on
the Government to ratify in the interests of human health.